Tainted Vengeance
by Alex Kade
Summary: NO JALEX! Just thought I'd throw that right out there. Episodic action taking place any time after the movie. Justin's magic is acting quirky, Alex gets kidnapped, Max has to step up his game to help them both, and a vengeance plot unfolds!
1. Part 1

_**Part 1**_

**A/N: **I know, I know, I'm going against poll results. I was supposed to, via popular demand, write another Royal Pains epi next; but I recently discovered, fell in love with, and rotted my brain for days watching every last epi + movie of WOWP so I'd be caught up before season 3 aired. And now I'm writing a fic 'cause I hate waiting the full seven days between episodes to be reunited with the characters. *shrugs*

And this shall have no Jalex. No offense to those who are into it, but I like canon. Mostly. This story plays a little more into Justin's allergies. But the sibling relationships are just plain sibling relationships, here. Sorry!

* * *

Alex dramatically enters the living room from upstairs, reciting lines off a sheet of paper, "Oh, sweet Juliet, how I love the way the moonlight glimmers off your pearly white fangs."

Justin, who is sitting at the kitchen counter, jumps off his stool. "Alex, where did you get that?"

She ignores him and continues. "And the way the wind whistles beneath the grace of your perfect bat wings."

"Alex! That's private – give it to me!" He lunges towards the paper in her hand, but she easily evades him, rushing to the other side of the couch and laughing.

"This is sad, Justin, even for you."

"It's a work in progress," he says as he runs to her side of the couch, but she jumps over it and races to the patio door.

"Oh, no, I think it's fine the way it is. We should send it to her." She flings the door open and holds the paper out to the wind. Justin freezes.

"You wouldn't dare," he threatens, squinting his eyes at her.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" She looks at the poem and grins mischievously before starting to cast a spell. "Lame words of love on this paper; should be seen by-"

"NOOOOO!" Justin cries as he leaps towards Alex's hand. He grabs the poem as he sails past her, landing hard on his side out on the patio. He stumbles back to his feet, holding the paper up triumphantly with an, "Ah ha! I win!"

Alex shrugs. "Eh, I couldn't think of a word that rhymed with 'paper' anyway." She smiles at him and cocks her head to the side. "Besides, this is even better." She waves to him as she quickly shuts and locks the patio door.

Justin frowns, jiggling the door handle a few times. "This isn't funny, Alex!" he shouts through the glass.

"Really? 'Cause I'm laughing," and to make it more clear, she points and laughs at him.

He sets his jaw in anger and points a finger at her. "Alex, you better – owe!" He takes a step back, slapping at his right arm just below the shoulder. When he pulls back his hand, he looks down into his palm. His expression quickly changes from anger to confusion, then to alarm.

Alex stops laughing, furling her eyebrows. "Really? You think hitting yourself is gonna make me open the door?...Though it is pretty funny."

Justin looks back up at her. "No, Alex, a bee. I just got stung by a bee." He holds out his left hand so she can see the dead bee resting in his palm.

"Oh!," she exclaims, wrenching the door open and pulling him inside, leading him to the couch. "MOM! DAD!" she screams down the stairs, then races to the freezer to grab an ice pack.

Jerry and Theresa are up the stairs in seconds, looking concerned. "What happened? What's wrong?" Jerry asks.

"Justin got stung by a bee," Alex fills them in.

Theresa jumps into action, first. "Okay, Alex, call the doctor. Jerry, you pull out the stinger and put the icepack on his arm. I'll get the EpiPen."

Max comes racing down the stares. "Already got it," he says, holding up the pen.

"Good boy," Theresa says, taking the pen and running over to Justin's side. She is about to administer a shot when Jerry stops her.

"Hold on, I think it's a false alarm," he says, looking closely at Justin's arm.

Justin tries to twist his arm around so he can see. "False alarm?" he asks. "But, I felt it sting me."

"Yeah, and I saw the dead bee," Alex nods.

Jerry shakes his head. "There's no stinger, no swelling, not even a red mark. You're fine."

"Jerry, are you sure?" Theresa asks.

"Look for yourself," he says, moving out of the way so she can see.

After a few seconds of close inspection, she looks at Justin and shrugs. "There's nothing there, sweetie. I think your mind played a trick on you."

"Or…" Alex walks forward, shaking her finger at Justin thoughtfully, "you played a trick on _me_. You _pretended_ to get stung so I'd let you back in the house. That's low, Justin, even for my standards….but impressive. You're learning."

"But I-" Justin argues.

Jerry crosses his arms over his chest. "Justin, your allergy is not something to be used to get back at your sister."

"But, Dad, I wouldn't-"

"And Alex," Jerry continues, "What have I told you about locking your brother out of the house?"

"Daddy, I couldn't help it. Call it a moment of weakness," she shrugs.

Max frowns. "You locked Justin out again? Man, I miss all the good stuff."

"You should have heard the poem," Alex giggles.

Theresa throws up her hands. "Okay, enough, all of you. Alex, Max, go to school. Now."

Grumbling, they grab their bags and Justin stands to join them. Theresa puts a hand out to stop him. "Oh no, young man, I'm not done with you yet."

"But, I'm going to be late for school," he whines.

"I don't care. We need to have a little talk about this."

Max turns to Alex as they're heading out the door. "Awe man, I've gotta do something really bad so Mom'll let _me_ be late for school."

"It'll never work," Alex frowns. "Mom's only doing this because to a nerd like Justin, being late to school _is_ a punishment."

"Ohhhhh," Max nods, shutting the door behind him.


	2. Part 2

_**Part 2**_

Alex is putting books in her locker, talking to Harper. "…It was genius, really. But don't tell him I said that."

"I don't know Alex. Are you sure he did it on purpose? I mean, it just doesn't sound very Justin-like."

Alex shuts her locker and leans back against it, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, you're probably right…but he got in trouble for it anyway, so who cares?" She perks right up, but frowns again as Justin bursts through the doors, breathing heavily. "Oh, shoot, he made it on time."

Justin walks over to her and Harper, opens his mouth to yell at Alex, instead leans down on his knees to catch his breath, stands up and tries again but still can't seem to spit words out, tries a third time, but Alex interrupts him:

"Let me help you out." She points angrily at Justin and mimics his voice. "Alex, you almost made me late! I could've tarnished my life-long perfect record of nontardiness!" She smirks. "Was that pretty close?"

Justin nods his head as he sucks in another deep breath and swallows. He stands up straight again, but waivers just a little. Harper looks at him with concern.

"Justin, are you okay?" she asks.

Alex shakes her head. "That's what ya get for sprinting all the way over here. Face it, Justin, geeks just aren't built to run." She pats him on the arm with fake pity before walking off. Harper shrugs apologetically and follows after her, leaving Justin still pointing in their direction and trying to retaliate. He gets out a few whiny noises at her, then huffs in annoyance as he gives up. The warning bell tolls and, with an alarmed look on his face, he races off to his class.

-----------------------------------------------------

Alex sits on the bench in the school lobby, sketching in her notebook. She doesn't notice Justin coming down the stairs behind her, holding a hand to his forehead. He spots her and stops walking.

"Alex, what are you doing out here?'

She jumps up, sees it's just Justin, and relaxes. "Oh, it's you." She sits back down and goes back to drawing. Justin walks brusquely over to her and snatches away her sketch. "Heeeeyyy, that's miiine," she whines.

"You're supposed to be in class, Alex," he scolds, folding the notebook shut.

"Look who's talking. Why aren't _you_ in class?"

He looks down at his feet and mumbles something incoherent. Alex stands up and walks closer to him. "What was that?" she asks, and he looks away, mumbling again. Frowning, she moves in even closer, leaning an ear towards his mouth. "One more time."

He turns right towards her and pretty much shouts, "I fell asleep in class!" causing her to jump back and put a hand over her ear.

"Owe! You didn't have to yell!"

"Sorry," he mutters and places his hand to his head again, plopping down on the bench. "Ms. Rodman told me to go see the nurse."

Alex looks closer at him. "You do look kinda sick." She pulls his hand down out of the way and feels his forehead, also bringing one hand to her own head. "That's weird," she says, frowning.

"Weird? Either I have a fever or I don't. What's weird about it?"

She scrunches up her face in confusion. "You definitely don't have a fever…"

"Well that's a relief." He looks up at her still-confused face. "You can move your hand, now, Alex."

She pulls her hand away slightly, then puts it right back. "Yeah, that's definitely weird."

Justin stands up and backs away from her a step. "Alex, what is it?"

"You don't have a fever…you have, like, an anti-fever or something."

Now Justin looks confused. "What does _that_ mean?"

"You're…cold. _Really_ cold."

Justin now uses his hands like Alex had to compare his temperature to hers. "You're right! No wonder I've been chilly. I thought they just turned the AC on a little too high." He starts to walk away from her.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"To the nurse. Obviously I _am_ sick."

She shakes her head. "Justin, you have a backwards fever. Have you ever heard of a _normal_ person getting a backwards fever?"

He opens his mouth, looks thoughtful, then shuts it again. "No, I guess not," he admits.

"Right, so what are you gonna tell the nurse when she takes your temperature? That you've been standing in the back of an ice cream truck?"

"Come on, Alex, I'm not _that_ cold," he says, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah? Well why don't you conjure up a thermometer right now and we'll find out."

"Okay, fine." He takes a quick look around to make sure no one else is watching before pulling out his wand, pointing it at the bench. "What I need is a thermometer; so I can take my temperature."

A flash of light springs from his wand and a thermometer instantly appears on the bench, but at the exact same time, a strange black lightning springs from Justin's arm, surrounding his entire right shoulder. He cries out and drops his wand, clutching his arm with his left hand as the black lightning dies down and flickers out.

"Justin, what was that?" Alex races over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I, I don't know," he answers, looking down at his arm. He begins to noticeably shiver, now.

"Oh, this is definitely magic-related," Alex remarks, then turns to reach for the thermometer. Just as she's about to pick it up, it suddenly explodes into a small cloud of black sand. She squeaks and jumps away from it.

"Alex!" Justin cries out in concern and starts to take a step towards her, when suddenly the sand-cloud thins out and races towards him, instead. It slams into his face, disappearing into his body. He stands stunned, blinking his eyes for a few seconds.

"Justin?" Alex asks, taking a tentative step forward.

He blinks slowly once more before his eyes roll back and he begins to crumble to the side. Alex is just barely able to move under him in time to stop him from hitting his head on the floor. She tries to shake him awake as he begins to shiver more violently in her arms.

"Justin, wake up! Justin!" When he doesn't respond, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cell, pressing a speed-dial button. She waits for a second, then begins speaking rapidly. "Daddy, it's Justin - he was cold, and we needed a thermometer, and then there was this black lightning, and this sand cloud attacked him, and now he won't wake up, and…please, Daddy, just help him!" Her voice cracks as she begins to cry, watching helplessly as her brother's face starts turning pale and his lips start fading to blue.


	3. Part 3

_**Part 3**_

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews!!!

And thank you Todd Greenwald and David Henrie for talking to me today! Anyone who doesn't have Twitter should sign up and follow anyone affiliated w/WOWP 'cause they respond to their fans and sometimes do live camera feeds where they talk to us! To reiterate: David freakin' Henrie actually spoke to me, live, on camera!!!! (That's the kid that plays Justin in case you didn't know!)

Oh, and I don't own anything affiliated with Wizards of Waverly Place. Don't sue me!

* * *

Justin is laying on the couch in the living room covered in thick blankets, his skin pale blue and his lips just a slightly darker blue shade. Theresa puts a steaming towel on his forehead while Alex and Max stand aside, looking worried. Jerry is sitting beside Justin on the edge of the couch.

"This isn't working," Jerry mumbles as he watches the steam on the towel quickly disappear.

"What's wrong with him?" Alex asks.

He shakes his head. "I don't know – it's definitely a spell of some form. If I didn't know any better, I'd think-" He suddenly looks up at Alex. "Alex, you said you saw the bee that stung Justin this morning?"

"Yeah, it was in his hand. But I thought you said it didn't sting him."

"I think I may have been wrong. Where is it?"

"I don't know, he probably dropped it on the patio."

Jerry hustles over to the patio, flings open the door, and bends over, scooping up the dead bee. "Oh no," he says as he looks closely at it.

Theresa walks over to him. "Jerry, what is it?"

He moves further into the room and waves Alex and Max over to him. Opening his hand, he holds the bee up to the lamplight. "Look at the wings," he instructs.

Max's eyes light up, "They're blue! Cool!"

Jerry scowls at him. "No, not cool-" he starts, then tilts his a little to the side. "Well, I guess technically it _is_ cool, but not in the same sense of the word..."

"Jerry," Theresa prods him along.

"Uh, what I mean is, this bee _makes_ things cool. It's a Breezer Bee, and it's very rare. In fact, they've almost been entirely wiped out, and for good reason. They're difficult to use and they are _very_ dangerous."

Alex looks back at Justin, then back at her dad. "Well, how do we make Justin _un_cool? – Oh, if this were a better time I'd _so_ make a joke about that."

Jerry shakes his head. "We can't – that's what makes these so dangerous. See, the bee has to be summoned by three wizards who then direct it to a specific target. Once it stings that target, the stinger actually melts into the person's bloodstream, disappearing without a trace. Then, it slowly begins freezing the person from the inside, putting them into something like a cryogenic sleep. The only way to completely reverse the effect is to destroy the three pieces of the bee-shaped charm that the summoners have to wear around their necks."

"So…Justin's just gonna stay like this until we destroy the pieces?" Alex asks.

Jerry thinks for a second, then wags his finger at her. "Not necessarily. He isn't completely frozen, yet. If we can get his body to warm up before he starts icing over, we may be able to fight back against the bee's power until we can figure out what to do."

"But, Dad," Max interjects, "the blankets aren't working."

Alex speaks before Jerry can. "No, but magic might." She walks over to Justin and holds her hands over him. "Please work," she begs before casting her spell. "With a Breezer Bee I must compete; Warm up Justin with the right amount of heat."

A soft red glow emits from her hands and pours over Justin. Color quickly begins returning to his cheeks and lips, and within a few seconds, he slowly blinks his eyes open.

"Justin!" Alex cries with relief, throwing her arms around him.

"Alex?" he groans, "What happened?"

Jerry, Theresa, and Max crowd around the couch, wide grins on their faces. Justin starts to sit up, but everyone shouts "No!" at the same time and they all push him back down. He looks at them, confused.

Jerry begins to explain, again. "Justin, you need to stay under the blankets and keep yourself warm. You've been stung by a Breezer Bee, which-"

Justin's eyes grow wide, "A Breezer Bee! I should have known…See, I told you I wasn't lying."

Theresa puts a hand to his shoulder. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry we didn't believe you."

"It's okay, Mom, there's no way you could've known." He looks questioningly at his dad. "I thought Breezers were virtually extinct?"

"Well, they are, and highly illegal, and – how do know about Breezers, anyway?"

Alex rolls her eyes. "Because he knows everything about everything. You're talking to a teenager who thinks staying up past his bedtime to read a book is living on the edge."

"Right, good point," Jerry agrees, but after seeing the cross look on Justin's face, he quickly tries to redeem himself. "Uh, and you should be following your brother's example. Reading is a good thing." He pats Justin's leg, who grins up at Alex satisfactorily.

She crosses her arms. "Oh, sure, rub it in. Maybe next time I'll just let you become a Justinsickle."

Understanding fills Justin's face. "Ohhh, you used magic to warm me up, didn't you?"

She shrugs. "Yeah, well, blue wasn't a good color for you."

"Thanks, Alex," he says sincerely.

"We'll just say you owe me one," she grins.

"Riiight," Justin nods, then turns his attention back to his dad. "So, what about the black lightning? And the sand? I don't remember reading anything about that."

Jerry frowns, hesitating before he speaks. "I didn't think I'd ever have to mention it…It's even more rare than the Breezers…" He looks down at his hands. Justin shifts up into a sitting position and this time, no one stops him as their attention is focused on Jerry.

"Dad, I have to know," Justin gently coaxes.

"It's tainted magic," Jerry finally continues. "It's created when a spell has an unexpected adverse effect on a wizard's body due to preexisting harmful physical conditions."

Max raises his hand and questions, "Pre-exiting what?"

"Pre_existing_ conditions," Jerry corrects. "Basically, what it means is that since Justin has such a strong physical allergen to normal bees, a magic bee would create an equally strong reaction to his magical abilities. It tainted his magic."

"So what does that mean?" Alex asks.

"What it means is that Justin can't use his magic until we can clear the taint out of his system."

"Well, what'll happen if he keeps using it?" Max asks.

Justin answers him. "I keep getting zapped by painful magical lightning and black sand blasts into my face, knocking me instantly unconscious."

Alex looks at him quizzically. "You weren't 'instantly unconscious.' You stood there blinking like an idiot for a few seconds before you went down…unless you were passed out on your feet."

Jerry interrupts the conversation. "You're both right, actually. Taint isn't just magic that doesn't work right. It, it acts more like a virus attacking its host, or in this case, the wizard that created it. It stays dormant in the system until you cast a spell, and once your magic is released, the taint awakens and morphs into the black sand. That sand then returns to its host, allowing it to…uh…well to 'feed.' However, it can only 'feed' as long as the host is physically awake, so it will keep the body awake for a short time while the mind is essentially sleeping. So, Justin, you were both awake and asleep for the few seconds that you were still standing."

Max crinkles up his nose, "Black sand is feeding on Justin's brain? That's kind of…gross."

Justin's eyes grow wide. "My brain? It's eating my brain? But, I'm the smart one of the family! Who's gonna get Alex out of trouble when she screws up? Max?"

Everyone looks at Max and doubtful looks spread on their faces. "I should feel resentment," he says, then shrugs, "but I just can't when I know he's right. We're all doomed."

Jerry shakes his head rapidly, dismissing the conversation. "No, no, the taint isn't feeding off Justin's brain."

"Whew, that's a relief," Justin sighs. "So what's it eating, then? My powers?"

"Worse," Jerry explains, "It's eating your life energy. Every time that black sand absorbs back into your body, it's eating away time off your lifespan…"

* * *

**A/N:** You always gotta have an information chapter. Thank you teacher Jerry! Now for the actiony stuff...


	4. Part 4

_**Part 4**_

**A/N:** Readers, this is very important! Todd Greenwald, who created Wizards of Waverly Place, told his fans via tweetcam on Monday that he would give out tickets to WOWP taping sessions if he can get up to 10,000 followers on his Twitter account. I've been shamelessly plugging him everywhere for two days straight and now he has over 8,800 – we're almost there! He thanked me yesterday and told me to keep it up, so now I'm spreading it to here! Even if you don't live close and can't make it to the filming, you should support him anyway (I live in WA, so I'm not exactly close, either) just for bringing us this fantastic show. Plus, if you follow him, then you'll know when he does his live twitcam shows, during which the stars of WOWP often pop in on to say hi to their fans, so it's worth it. If you have a Twitter, or want to create one, or know someone that might be interested, go to toddjgreenwald and simply click on "follow" – it's that easy! Thank you!

* * *

"Eating my lifespan?" Justin repeats, looking panicked.

Jerry immediately tries to calm him down. "Now, you only created a thermometer. Smaller spells take less time off your life. You probably only lost a couple minutes."

"A couple minutes?!" Justin squeaks. "But, what if in those couple minutes I would have said something that could change the world? Or, something deep and meaningful that people would go on quoting for the rest of eternity?"

Max speaks up. "Or, what if you were gonna reveal the secret to some hidden treasure you discovered?"

Alex chimes in. "Or sign everything in your will over to me?"

They all look at her.

"What? It's not like I'm gonna get rich any other way," she explains.

Jerry holds up his hands. "Just calm down, everyone. Wizard doctors and scientists have been researching a way to reverse the effects of the taint. They've been successful in all but two cases, so far. I'm sure with the little bit you've been exposed to, they shouldn't have any trouble at all returning those few minutes to you."

Alex slaps Justin lightly on the arm, "Awe, there, see – you _will_ still have time so sign your fortune over to me."

Justin rolls his eyes at her and turns back to talk to Jerry. "Okay, well I'm ready to go see these wizard doctors whenever you are."

"Oh, no, Justin. We can't take care of the taint until we take care of the Breezer. We have to track down the wizards that summoned it and destroy that charm."

"Okay, so how do we that?" Justin asks.

"_We_ aren't doing anything," Jerry says firmly. "You need to stay right here and keep yourself warm. I'll head over to WizTech and see what they can do for you over there."

He stands up and head towards the stairs.

"Well, what do _we _do?" Alex asks.

"You may need to cast another heat spell if the first one wears off," Jerry explains, "And keep Justin from using any more magic."

"Like I would do that," Justin says, looking annoyed that his dad would even suggest such a thing.

"I'm just making sure," Jerry tells him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that, he rushes down the stairs. Theresa puts her hand to Justin's cheek and frowns. "You still feel cold. Lay back down under the blankets. I'm going to get you another one."

"Mom, I feel fine," he argues. She gives him the mother glare. "Okay, I'm lying down," he says swiftly.

He snuggles back down under the covers and, satisfied, Theresa heads up the stairs. "Ooh, I bet I can find that electric blanket in the attic," she mutters as she goes.

Max laughs.

"What's so funny?" Justin asks.

"When that blanket heats up, it smells like cooked liver."

"Why, Max, would the blanket smell like liver when it heats up?" Justin continues.

"Because I'd be too tempted to eat it if it smelled like waffles. Sheesh, do I have to explain everything to you people?" Max says in a frustrated manner.

Justin and Alex just look at each other, but before they can say anything else, a cloud of thick yellow smoke suddenly appears in front of the kitchen counter. Evil laughter, male and female, starts rolling out from the smoke, but quickly turns into choked coughing noises. As the smoke starts to dissipate, three shaded figures begin to become visible, coughing and waving their arms in front of their faces.

"Was the smoke too much?" an older man's voice sputters out.

"No," the woman coughs, "but maybe we should have held back on the evil laughter until it cleared away."

A boy's voice speaks next. "Or we could have just used the door, like I said to begin with."

"Oh, there'd be no fun in that," the woman says.

Alex, Justin, and Max look at each other, and turn back as the smoke fully clears. Trying to make evil-looking poses are Dr. Evilini, Ronald Longcape Sr., and Ronald Longcape Jr. Around each of their necks hangs a chain sporting a different piece of a bee – one with a head, one with the body, and the last with the stinger.

"Hey!" Alex shouts, "It was you! Give me those necklaces!" She starts to storm over to them when Ronald Jr. gives her a smug grin and waves his wand at her. Her body freezes in place, mid-stride.

"I don't think so," he sneers.

Justin stands up angrily. "Let her go!" he orders.

Dr. Evilini laughs. "What will you do if we don't?" she asks, picking up the bee head charm and rolling it around in her fingers. "A little more juice, please," she orders.

Justin immediately wraps his arms around his body, beginning to shiver yet again.

Alex, who is still able to speak, asks, "Why are you doing this?"

Ronald Jr. answers her. "Why else but revenge?"

"But," Max says, confused, "The only thing _Justin_ did to any of you was to clear the plastic balls out of WizTech."

Ronald Sr. steps forward, "Which ruined my plans to take over the school and got my powers stripped."

Max continues, "Right, so if _you_ want revenge, that's cool-"

"Max!" Justin scolds.

Max shrugs apologetically before turning back to the evil trio. "But why are you two helping? I mean, really it was Alex who-"

"Precisely," Dr. Evilini coos. "It was Alex who got _my_ powers stripped-"

"And mine," Ronald Jr. interrupts.

Dr. Evilini shoots him a look before continuing her explanation, "So, we aren't actually here for revenge on Justin. We're here to get back at Alex."

Ronald Sr. raises his hand. "Oh, I was involved just for the revenge on Justin part. Alex didn't really do anything to me."

"I wasn't done yet," Dr. Evilini snarls. "We wanted revenge on Alex, but knew we couldn't get it if Justin was in the way. So, we set the Breezer on him to get him out of the picture, first. And with that done, Alex, you will now be ours! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"No!" Justin yells, "Max we have to help her!"

Max nods and he and Justin begin to rush forward to grab Alex.

"You won't be helping anyone," Ronald Jr. snipes, flashing his wand at them. They freeze in place instantly. Laughing, the evil trio slink over to Alex, surrounding her. Ronald Sr. begins to twirl his wand in circles above his head, beginning a vortex that slowly grows as he circles his wrist.

"Alex, no," Justin grunts, and manages to wiggle his fingers. Struggling, he forces the movement up into his hand, watching as the vortex grows larger. "Come on," he orders his arm, and is finally able to move it freely. Just as the vortex grows wide enough to encompass the trio and Alex, he raises his hand and fires a magic blast at Ronald Sr, ignoring the pain from the black lighting that instantly attacks his shoulder; but the vortex is faster as it comes down around the group, surrounding them. The magic blast bounces off of it and flings back at the lamp on the bookshelf, shattering it. As the vortex disappears along with Alex and the trio, the spell is broken on Max and Justin. Justin drops to his knees, hugging his body as he begins shivering even more. Max rushes to his side.

"Justin, what do we do?" he asks.

"I – I d-don't know," Justin answers between shakes. "Can't th-think. Too c-c-cold."

Max snaps his fingers. "I'll just do that heating spell Alex did before!" He holds his hands over Justin. "Okay…um…how did it go?" He looks up to think, and notices a small black cloud of sand forming in the place where the lamp used to be. "Uh oh," he mutters, "Justin, the sand!"

Justin turns to see the sand thinning out into a line, just like it did before. "Max, m-move out of the w-way," he warns.

Before Max can move, the sand fires itself towards them. Without even thinking, Max stands in front of his brother, holding a hand out to the black stream. "Make my hand destroy that black sand!" he shouts out, just in time. The sand slams into his palm and explodes into a fine dust that dissolves into the air. He looks down at his hand, saying "whoa" before turning excitedly back to Justin; but Justin doesn't return eye contact. His eyes look glazed over as he focuses on the ground, trying his best to stay awake despite the cold.

"Ooh, guess it's up to me," Max says to himself. Holding his hands over Justin one more time, he concentrates on the spell...


	5. Part 5

_**Part 5**_

**A/N: **Just a reminder: Twitterers need to follow toddjgreenwald and spread the word about his follower campaign in order to be eligible to win the tickets to a WOWP taping session. We only have 1,000 more followers to go!

* * *

"Um, with a Breezer Bee I must compete, warm up Justin with the right amount of heat," Max utters. The soft red glow pours from his hands and he grins wide in celebration of his accomplishment. Within seconds, Justin is able to regain control over the shaking in his body and he takes a few deep breaths before looking up at Max.

"Max, you did it," he says, surprise and pride in his voice.

"It's 'cause I'm just that goood," Max nods, a smug smile on his face.

Theresa wanders back downstairs holding a red electric blanket to her nose. "I found it...but for some reason it smells a little like-"

She looks down and sees Justin on his knees on the floor, Max hovering over him, and her lamp broken in pieces.

"What happened?" she asks, then looks around again, "Wait, where's Alex? What did she do?"

Justin stands up, brushing off his pants. "For once, she didn't do anything. The Longcapes and Dr. Evilini took her. They're the ones who are behind all of this."

"What? But how?" Theresa asks. "I thought they had their powers stripped?"

"Apparently they found a way to get them back," Justin says angrily. "I have to go after them."

"No, Justin," Theresa orders. "It's too dangerous for you. We have to tell your father."

Justin shakes his head. "Mon, we have to go now before we lose her trail. If that happens, we could lose her forever…besides, I have Max to help me."

Theresa looks at Justin and Max hesitantly, struggling with what to do. "No, no!" she decides. "If you go, I could lose all three of you. I'm sure your father and Professor Crumbs can handle getting Alex back."

Justin is about to retaliate when he spots a comic book on the coffee table. He turns to Max and says, "We don't have time to argue. Remember that time with Alex's journal?" He gestures to the comic book.

"Yeah," Max laughs, "That was pretty funny. Way better than that comic book!"

"No, Max," Justin informs him between clenched teeth, "Put mom in the comic book."

"Ohhhhh," Max nods, and whispers back "But won't she get mad?"

"Just do it!" Justin orders.

Max jumps, nodding his head rapidly as he pulls out his wand.

"What are you doing Max?" Theresa asks.

"Literarium Tararium!" Max quickly spits out, and Theresa gets sucked into the comic book. He then runs over and picks it up, looks at a page, and runs it over to Justin. Justin looks at it and sees a frame picturing Theresa, hands on her hips, scowling.

"Wow, she looks really mad, doesn't she?" Justin asks, then speaks to the picture. "Sorry, mom, we'll let you out as soon as we get back." He's about to set the comic book back down, but he suddenly pulls it back to himself. "Oh, and if you come across a guy in purple spandex tights with lightning bolt glasses, you should run the other way."

He places the book on the table gently, then turns back to Max. "Okay, we need to get down to the lair. I know a way we can track Alex, but we have to move fast, and I'm gonna need your help."

Max nods and they both rush down the stairs.

------------------------------------------------------

The vortex spins in place for a few seconds before twirling upward and disappearing, leaving behind Alex, Dr. Evilini, and the Longcapes wobbling dizzily.

"Really?" Alex states as she regains her balance. "The smoke and the vortex – a little overkill."

Ronald Jr. nods. "That's what I've been trying to tell them."

Alex looks around to see where she's been taken. All she can see is dry, cracked earth and a pale-yellow sky full of swirling clouds.

"Where are we?" she asks.

"This, my dear," Dr. Evilini spreads her arms wide, gesturing at the world around them, "is a void pocket. It's a-"

Alex interrupts her, "meaningless space between worlds where no one can find me, blah blah blah."

Dr. Evilini looks shocked. "How did you know? Oh, you must have learned all about it during wizard training."

"Pfffft, no," Alex says, waving her hand dismissively. "It's called a _'void pocket,'_ where you brought me right after _kidnapping_ me. It's kind of a no-brainer-" she sees Ronald Jr. opening his mouth, "-and don't you dare say anything involving me and having no brain."

He shuts his mouth, a little smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "Your intelligence level is irrelevant, anyway," he tells her. "What matters is that we placed a lock on this particular void pocket. Once you're in, you can't get out."

Ronald Sr. holds up a finger, "Oh, unless someone from the outside is holding the pathway open for you…O-or unless you're us, of course, since we put the lock on the void pocket to begin with."

"Shut up, Dad," Ronald Jr. orders, and rolls his eyes angrily. He turns back to Alex. "And just so you know, tracking someone that's hiding in a void pocket is very, very difficult. In fact, it's pretty much impossible. No one is going to come for you."

"So, what, you're just gonna leave me here for eternity or something?" Alex asks.

Dr. Evilini laughs. "We're going to do more than that," she says, pulling out her wand. She waves it at Alex, creating glowing orange bindings around Alex's wrists and ankles.

"Hey!" Alex shouts, struggles against the bindings, then looses her balance and with a "whoa!" falls over to the ground. "Note to self," she mumbles as she shifts up into a sitting position, "Moving around while your ankles are tied is _not_ a good plan." She looks up. "Note to self? Oh, man, I'm starting to sound like Justin!"

"Those bindings," Dr. Evilini continues, "Are now linked directly to your powers. All we have to do now is attach the Transfermerator to the bindings, and it will filter your magic from you to us."

"So that's how you got your powers back!" Alex deduces, "Whose magic did you steal?"

"Nobody that concerns you," Ronald Jr. snaps at her. "Dad, bring out the Transfermerator!"

Ronald Sr. reaches into his jacket pocket, frowns, reaches into a different pocket, then proceeds to pat himself down. "Uh oh," he says, "I think I left it back at the house."

"Well, go and get it!" Ronald Jr. orders.

Ronald Sr. nods and points his wand up at the sky, shooting upwards in a blur and disappearing.

"Just you wait," Ronald Jr. tells Alex, "After we combine your powers with the ones we've already collected, we'll be virtually unstoppable. We'll rule all of the wizard world!"

He and Dr. Evilini belt out their evil laughter while Alex worriedly pulls at her bindings.

-------------------------------------------

Jerry and Professor Crumbs are walking down a hallway at WizTech, talking. Jerry is saying, "…and then we can take care of the taint."

"A Breezer is definitely cause for concern," Professor Crumbs agrees, "And we can't have one of our most promising young wizards walking around with tainted magic, but right now I have other issues I must deal with."

"But, Professor, what could possibly be more pressing than rogue wizards summoning a Breezer bee?"

"Missing students." Crumbs stops walking. "We've had reports of five wizard trainees disappearing over the last week."

"Five? Wow…but, can't you just track them?" Jerry asks.

"That's the issue. We can't seem to tap in to their magic signatures."

"But that's impossible…unless-" Jerry starts to say.

"Unless the students have somehow been transported into a void pocket. Without knowing who is responsible for this, it is likely we will never find those children. So you see, Mr. Russo, the missing students _must_ be my top priority. As long as you keep Justin warm and keep him from using his powers, he'll be all right. I promise I will attend to him as soon as this other issue is resolved."

"I understand," Jerry says sadly, watching as Professor Crumbs walks away. He sighs, and heads back down the hall.

* * *

**A/N:** Uh oh! Will Alex have her powers drained? Can Justin and Max save the day? Tune in next time to find out!!!


	6. Part 6

_**Part 6**_

Max and Justin are standing in the lair, Max holding onto a compass and Justin staring down at it. The arrow on the compass is spinning in out-of-control circles.

"You're not doing it right," Justin huffs.

"What's not to do right?" Max argues. "Hold the compass-" he raises the compass up to Justin's eye level, "Check. Think of Alex-" he closes his eyes and says, "I'm picturing that time Alex yelled at me for eating pudding off the floor."

"No, Alex _stopped_ you from eating something that _wasn't_ pudding off the floor," Justin reminds him.

"Don't confuse me with the details, I'm trying to focus on Alex." Max squeezes his eyes shut even harder, but the compass still continues to spin wildly.

Justin taps a finger to his chin. "I don't understand. Family members can _always_ tap into each other's magic signatures as long as the wait isn't too long. Her trail should still be really strong…" He looks down at the ground while he thinks, then appears to have an idea. Waving his finger at Max, he says, "Try feeding some of your magic into it. Maybe it can use the similarities between yours and Alex's magic to lock onto her signature."

"Okay," Max nods, and pushes a little of his power into the compass. It begins to sparkle and the needle slows down significantly, but it continues to spin around the poles.

"Close, but not enough," Justin mumbles to himself. He reaches his hand out over the compass, but Max pulls it away.

"What are you doing?" Max asks.

"I think if I add some of my power to it, too, it might be able to find Alex."

"Or, using your powers on it might make the whole thing explode into a crazy brain-eating cloud monster," Max says, cupping the compass to his body away from Justin.

"Taint doesn't eat brains, remember? And, I didn't create the compass; therefore, it won't explode. It won't hurt anything to try."

Max shakes his head. "But it does hurt something, Justin. It hurts _you_."

Justin sighs and puts a hand on Max's shoulder. "It doesn't hurt that bad, and as long as you do that cool, disintegrate the sand cloud in mid-air thing again, I'll be fine."

Max scrunches his face up as his thinks, then holds the compass out again. "Okay," he says reluctantly, "But don't get any of your mutant magic on me – I don't want my hand to explode."

"Your hand isn't going to explode – just, hold out the compass."

Max holds the compass out as far away from his body as possible, and cringes back as he begins to feed his magic into it again. Justin takes in a deep breath and, hand hovering next to the compass, lets some of his own magic trickle into it. The black lightning begins slowly crawling around his shoulder and creeps down his arm as he continues to allow his magic to flow. The compass slows its spinning even more, then begins to just tick back and forth between the east and west directions. At the same time, a thin, black smoky line rises up from the compass and begins to collect in a black cloud.

"Justin, stop," Max pleads, watching the lighting shooting up and down the entire length of Justin's arm.

Justin shakes his head no, gritting his teeth against the pain stubbornly. His hand begins to shake, then shivers start coursing through his body. Max drops the compass and uses the hand he had previously cast the sand-destroying spell on to knock the black cloud out of existence.

"Why'd you do that? We almost had it!" Justin yells.

"Look at you!" Max yells back, "You're cold, again. If I have to stop and heat you up every time you use your magic, we're not going to get any-"

Justin looks surprised, "Max, you're a genius."

"I am? Wow, never thought I'd see the day where _you'd_ be saying that to_ me._"

"It's like you said: I get colder every time I use my powers. That means my magic is directly connected to the Breezer, which is connected to the Breezer charm. It's not Alex we need to be tracking, it's me."

"But, you're standing right here," Max points out.

Justin looks blankly at him for a second. "I take it back, you're not a genius."

"Darn, I knew it was too good to be true," Max says, snapping his finger in disappointment.

"What I meant was, I can use the compass to trace my own magic signature straight back to that charm-"

Max speaks excitedly, "And then we can destroy it, and then go back to WizTech to get that black stuff out of you, and then you can use your powers again to find Alex!"

Justin sighs. "No, Max. The Longcapes and Dr. Evilini have the charm. We find the charm, we find them. We find them, we find Alex."

"Ohhhhhh…Okay, let's do it."

"Okay," Justin bends down and picks up the compass. "Warm me up, first, then we'll try this again."

Max nods and holds his hands out towards his brother.

-------------------------------------------------

Alex shifts awkwardly until she can sit up on her knees. She looks around again, frowning at the nothingness surrounding her.

"This is sort of lame for a revenge plan, isn't it?" she asks.

Ronald looks at her, confused. "Lame? We're stealing your powers to take over the world while you get to sit here and rot for eternity. How is that lame?"

"How is it _not_ lame? 'Oh, no, I'm going to die of boredom! Oh, the horror!' Please, I could do _so_ much better."

Dr. Evilini steps forward. "And what, exactly, would you have done differently?"

"Well, I have to admit, getting Justin with the Breezer was a pretty good start – you actually had me worried – but it's just sort of gotten pathetic from there." Alex thinks for a second before continuing, "I know, making me redo my worst day at school over and over again would be a good one…or sticking me in a world where only convention freaks live…ooh, or making me do dishes for eternity…"

As she speaks, Alex very carefully fidgets at her boot until she is able to grip the tip of her wand. Slowly, she begins to pull it out and rotate it in her tied hands until it is pointing towards her.

"…and, I think I've given you enough ideas." She quickly improves a spell, "I need these bindings to undo, so I can get away from you!"

The orange ropes slide off and Alex gets up to run.

"Hey, get back here!" Ronald yells. "How'd she get out of those?" he asks Dr. Evilini.

"I forgot to lock the spell," she mumbles. "But don't worry – she can't get very far."

Alex sneaks a peak back and notices they aren't chasing her. Shrugging, she keeps going until they look small in the distance. She slows down and keeps walking forward, muttering, "Gotta remember to thank Justin for constantly reminding me about spell locks….now, how do I get out of here?" Two more steps later, she literally runs into the yellow sky. It springs her backwards, knocking her to the ground.

"What the?" she asks, standing up to investigate. She holds her hands out, pressing them into the soft, rubbery barrier that she had thought was a distant sky on the horizon. Turning back, she sees Ronald and Dr. Evilini laughing at her before they slowly begin walking in her direction.

--------------------------------------------------

The compass needle bounces around a few times before it suddenly splits in three, two needles bending up towards the sky at an angle and the third needle settling on the southeast direction.

"Almost there," Justin gasps, trembling a little against the lightning in his shoulder and the cold.

A light shoots out from the third needle, creating a holographic display in the air showing Ronald Sr. rummaging around in drawers, looking frantic. A few seconds later, another light comes from the other two needles, merging into one flickering, fuzzy image of Evilini and Ronald Jr. walking and laughing.

"I can't tell where they are," Max says, squinting at the hologram. "Can we adjust the color quality on this thing – the sky looks yellow."

"Yellow?" Justin asks.

"Yeah, yellow with swirly clouds, I think," Max confirms.

"I know where Alex is," Justin grins, stopping his magic flow into the compass. Immediately, the holograms explode into the black clouds of sand, and Max is quick to destroy them before they can attack Justin.

Justin rushes over to the table, scribbling something on the notepad sitting there.

"What are you doing?" Max asks.

"Leaving a note for Dad. Once we get to Alex, we're gonna need him to get us back out."

"Back out of what? Where are we going?"

"To a void pocket," he says, throwing down the pencil. Standing up, he looks back down at the compass, and his trembling hand holding it. "Max, I need to keep using this to find exactly where Alex is. Can you keep up with the sand and the cold at the same time?"

Max looks down at his own hands, then purses his lips, nodding. "Looks like I'm gonna have to."

"Good," Justin smiles, "Then let's go get our sister back."


	7. Part 7

_**Part 7**_

**A/N: **Thank you to all my readers/reviewers so far! You guys are great! Only one thing I gotta point out – I don't mind getting suggestions for what I should do next with my stories. In fact, sometimes I think people have really great ideas and if I like them, I do try to incorporate them! However, I also try very hard to keep fairly true to the original content. I already pushed this story a little bit with the EpiPen thing (I think Benedryl would have been more likely in a real episode) and I'm putting in a little more action/drama than a typical episode, but I won't go too far out of bounds. This is a Disney show, people! Just something to keep in mind before offering up a suggestion for where I should take the story…

* * *

Jerry pushes open the door from the wizard world to his lair, heaving a big sigh. Slowly, he makes his way back upstairs, beginning to say "I'm sorry" as he enters the living room. He cuts himself off when he sees that no one is there.

"Justin?" he calls, then when there's no answer, he calls for Theresa, Alex, and Max. "Where is everyone?" he asks, then happens to glance down at the comic book. His eyes open wide as he sees a frame in which Theresa is running, lightning dancing around her feet as she is being chased by a villain wearing purple spandex tights.

"Oh!" Jerry cries, then races back downstairs with the book. He grabs the Undo Dust and pours it on the page. Theresa pops out of the comic, stumbling as she lands on the ground, still trying to run.

"Honey, are you okay?" Jerry asks. She looks around.

"Where are the boys?" she asks.

"They're not here. What happened?"

"Ay, dios mio, they went after Alex," she mutters.

"Theresa, what are you talking about?"

"The Longcapes and that Dr. Evilini – they came and took Alex. The boys wanted to go after her, but I told them no and they put me in that stupid comic book. Jerry, we have to find them!"

"Um, okay, we have to think," Jerry says, then it occurs to him, "Justin's too responsible to just take off blindly. He'll have left us something so we'd know where to look for him."

They start looking around the room when Theresa spots the notepad on the table. "Oh, Jerry, here!" she calls, picking it up and reading the note out loud. "'Dad, tracked Alex into a void pocket. Will leave a trail you can follow so you can get us out. And Mom is in comic book upstairs. She looks really mad so be careful when you let her out.' Ugh, what did he think I'd do? Go on the attack?"

"Well, you are kinda scary when you get mad…" Jerry shrugs.

"Jerry! That's not important right now. You have to go get our kids back!"

"Right. Hey, did I hear you say void pocket?"

"Yeah, right here," she points to the note.

He grabs the note from her. "This is perfect! If we find Alex, we find the other missing kids!"

"What are you talking about? What other missing kids?"

"Sorry, I'll have to explain later. I need to get this information back to WizTech right away! Then they'll have to help us!"

He gives Theresa a little kiss on the cheek and runs back to the door.

"Jerry," Theresa calls right before he steps through. He stops and looks at her expectantly. "Bring our kids back," she says.

"I will," he promises before he disappears through the door.

------------------------------------------------

Ronald Jr. is dragging Alex back away from the barrier, her hands retied with the orange glowing bindings, but her feet still free so she can walk. Dr. Evilini follows behind, twirling Alex's wand in her fingers.

"Well, that was amusing," she purrs, "But it won't be happening again, and as soon as Ronald Sr. returns, you'll be powerless."

Alex smiles. "He's been gone awhile, hasn't he? Something tells me he lost your little Tranformer thingie."

"Transferminator," Ronald Jr. corrects.

"Transfermerator," Dr. Evilini sighs, "Why can no one say that right?"

"Well, whatever it is," Alex says, "he lost it. My powers are staying right where they belong."

There is a whoosh of air and a doorway suddenly appears in front of them.

"Sorry, Alex," Ronald Jr. grins, "No such luck. Here comes my dad with the Tranfermerator now."

Alex looks worried as Ronald Sr. steps through the door, but she smiles as he stumbles forward, having been pushed from behind. Justin and Max step through the door after him, Justin holding onto his shirt and Max pointing his wand at Sr.'s back. This door slams shut and disappears behind them.

"Justin! Max!" Alex cries out.

"Alex, are you okay?" Justin asks.

She nods and starts to walk towards them, but Jr.'s grip on her arm stops her as he yanks her back.

"Hey!" Max warns, pressing the wand into Sr.'s side, who lets out a little yelp.

"Oh please, Dad, they're just kids," Jr. says, annoyed, "And one of them is more or less under our control."

To make his point, he rolls the stinger piece of the bee charm around in his fingers.

"Max," is all Justin says, and immediately Max holds his free hand out to Justin, feeding heat into him without even having to cast the spell anymore. "We figured out how to counter your Breezer," Justin informs them, "Now let Alex go, or I tell Max to fire the wand."

"Oh, what can he do," Dr. Evilini sneers, "If I remember right, little Maxie can hardly cast a simple transformation spell."

"Um, I think that's the point," Alex offers, "Pops, there, could end up shrinking to half his size, or his arms could disappear. You never really know with little Maxie at the wheel."

"Yeah!" Max shouts, then, "Wait. That was not a compliment, was it?"

Justin shakes his head.

"Please," Sr. begs, "I don't want my arms to disappear! Just do as they say!"

"Oh, fine," Ronald Jr. agrees reluctantly, releasing his hold on Alex's arm. As she runs towards her brothers, Jr. raises his wand and shoots a blast of magic towards her back. Justin lets go of Sr., firing his own magic burst from his hand to counter Jr.'s. The powers collide in mid-air, flashing brightly and sending a black cloud racing back towards Justin. Max drops his wand, using one hand to block the cloud and the other to send heat into his brother. Sr. takes that instant to get away, joining his son and Evilini in a face-off with Justin, Max, and Alex.

"You're not as smart as everyone says you are, Justin," Jr. laughs, "Now there's three power-enhanced wizards against a kid who can barely use his magic, a girl with no wand whose hands are tied behind her back, and though you can counter the Breezer, it appears you've picked up a bit of taint. We'll just be taking all of your powers now, thank you."

Max picks up his wand. "Oh no you won't!" he shouts bravely, then whispers to Justin, "I don't think we can stand a chance."

Justin thinks quickly. "Max, put your wand away."

"What? You aren't going down without a fight are you?"

"Just do it. Alex, can you get out of those bindings?"

"Hmm-mm," she says, shaking her head, "I did once already, but Evilini put a lock on it this time."

"Okay, then can you bring your hands to the front?"

"Yeah," she says, stooping down quickly so she can bring her arms up under her legs, stepping over them so she can bring them to the front. Just as she stands back up straight, the evil trio begin firing spells their way. Justin throws out three blasts of magic in a row, intercepting all three of their spells.

"Oh man," Max utters, using both his hands to block the sand as it speeds towards them. He turns quickly back towards a shivering Justin, warming him up yet again.

Justin calls to Alex over his shoulder so he doesn't get distracted. "Alex, I need you to keep me awake," he orders.

"Why would you fall asleep in the middle of a battle?" she asks.

"Because Max won't be able to keep up with the Breezer and all the taint at the same time – some of it's bound to hit me and I need to stay conscious."

"But what about your life span?" she asks, worried.

"I'm just firing magic bursts – nothing big," The trio fire another round and Justin and Max repeat the same process of aiding each other. Justin turns back to Alex. "I'll just lose a few minutes at a time, and besides, Dad said it was reversible. We just have to hang on long enough until he gets here."

She shakes her head. "Justin, this is crazy. You're about to make this a three against one battle, and they weren't kidding about being enhanced – they stole magic from other wizards. They're more powerful than you."

"But I'm faster," Justin says, smiling. "Who was the only wizard to ever play twelve-ball with all twelve balls?"

Alex returns the smile. "You were, and you won." She looks down at her hands and says, "From the taint I now must keep, my brother Justin from falling asleep." A sparkling silver light flows slowly from her hands into Justin's back. "I'm ready," she tells him.

"Max?" Justin asks.

"Born ready!" Max confirms, posing dramatically like an actor in a martial arts film.

"Then let's do this," Justin says, bracing himself for the fight.


	8. Part 8

_**Part 8**_

"Professor Crumbs! Professor Crumbs!" Jerry calls, frantically knocking on the headmaster's door. There's a click on the other side, and the door swings open.

"Jerry, I told you-" Crumbs starts to say, but Jerry cuts him off.

"I know, I know, that's why I'm here. The kids figured it out – Evilini and the Longcapes kidnapped all those students, and they have Alex. The boys went after them."

He pulls out the note and hands it to Crumbs.

"How did they track her?" Crumbs asks.

"I don't know, but Justin said he'd leave a trail of some sort. We need to find that trail so we can get the kids out of that void pocket."

"Agreed. I'll summon the emergency wizards to assist us."

"Good idea – the more help, the better," Jerry says, following Crumbs out of his office.

------------------------------------------------

"Get ready, Max!" Justin warns his brother as he intercepts another round of spells, "I'm going on the offensive!"

"But, that'll just make _more_ sand I have to block," Max whines.

"I know, but they're gaining speed on me," Justin explains, "If they have to block my spells, too, it'll help us out."

Max nods, and Justin throws out several magic bursts in a row. The trio easily intercepts them, sending a volley back, which Justin quickly counters. The pace of the fight picks up even faster, the air resounding with the explosions of the spells canceling each other out and the sky shining brightly with each flash the collisions create. Max moves his hands almost as fast as Justin does, obliterating each black cloud as it comes hurtling towards them. The black lightning grows with each burst Justin sends out, the pause between his spells too short for it to completely dissipate, and soon it encompasses his entire right arm and is slowly spreading across his chest.

"Max, I need some heat," Justin reminds him, his voice shaky.

"Then slow down! I don't have time between sand blasts!" Max argues.

"That's what Alex is for!" Justin yells, his body beginning to shiver noticeably "Max, hurry, or I won't be able to keep up!"

Max frowns, uncertain as he sees his brother trying hard to fight off the cold. He glances back at Alex.

"Go ahead, Max," she tells him, "I got him."

He swallows, then drops his guard on the sand, raising his hands quickly to push the heat magic into his brother. Justin braces himself for the impact as four black clouds slam into him, instantly dissolving into his body. Behind him, Alex finds her spell being pushed back towards her hands, and she braces her feet, forcing it back into Justin's body. He clamps his mouth shut, blinking back a tear, as he sends out another round of magic missiles. Max turns back quickly, catching the next onrush of taint before it can hurt Justin further.

"Justin, are you okay?" Alex asks, worried.

"Fine," he gasps out, unconvincingly. "And good work, Alex – I could feel you fighting against it."

"Yeah, well, let's not do that too much, okay?" she requests. "That stuff isn't easy to push against, and it really wants you out cold."

"I sort of noticed that, thanks," Justin spits out as he continues to concentrate on the magic flying all around them. "Where are you, Dad?" he then mutters to himself.

--------------------------------------------

Professor Crumbs and Jerry are standing atop one of the towers at WizTech, staring at the sky. Crumbs waves his hand through the air above him, reciting "Revellum Wayllelum – Russo."

A giant green arrow appears high above their heads, pointing away from them.

"Attaboy, Justin," Jerry says proudly.

"Come – to the magic carpets," Crumbs orders, "We must follow that arrow."

Jerry and Crumbs board one carpet, the two emergency wizards (Goblin and Officer Lamp) boarding the other. They fly up towards the arrow and Crumbs guides his carpet right into it. It immediately disappears, and another arrow appears several feet away from them.

"Just as I thought," Crumbs smiles, "Piggy-back signal arrows. They'll know we're coming for them, now."

"I just hope they aren't too far away," Jerry sighs as they fly off towards the next arrow.

---------------------------------------------------

Max knocks another black cloud out of the sky, then jumps a little as if he's been startled.

"What happened?" Alex asks.

"I don't know," he frowns, "It felt a little like I touched one of those prank hand-shake buzzers, only less painful, and all over."

"It's the signal arrows I had you place," Justin informs them, his voice strained against the lightning that has now stretched across his torso and down his left arm, as well. "Dad must have passed through the first one. When you feel that jolt again, let me know."

"Why? What happens when I feel it again?" Max asks.

"Nothing- it just means that Dad will have passed through the last arrow. I need to know when that happens."

"Okay," Max shrugs, and a taint cloud zips past over his head, absorbing into Justin. He and Alex stumble back just a tiny bit at the impact. "Oops, sorry," Max says, cringing.

"Don't worry about it," Justin says, "You're doing great, Maxie."

The dangerous fireworks continue to explode against each other for another few minutes, and Max has to take another break from blocking the taint in order to fight off the effects of the Breezer on Justin. The sudden wave of black sand Justin absorbs almost buckles his knees, but he fights back against it, never slowing down his exchanges of attack and defense bursts. Alex fights just as hard behind him, forcing her magic to work against the sleep that threatens to take her brother out of the battle.

"Err, I hate this!" Alex shouts as she struggles with the tainted magic.

"It's not exactly-" Justin sucks in a pained breath, "-what I'd call fun, either. Max, you feel that jolt yet?"

"No, not yet," Max answers, switching back to his role as taint-shield.

"He has to be getting close," Justin hopes aloud.

Max suddenly jumps a little again. "There! I felt it! Dad's right outside!"

Justin fires out a massive volley of attack bursts, using the time it bought him to reach back into his pocket and pull out his wand.

"Justin!" Alex shouts, "You can't use your wand – it takes too much power!"

He ignores her as he forces magic into the wand until it glows a deep purple. He points it straight up and releases a purple ball into the air; which sails upwards, creating a streamer of magic that resembles a scar across the yellow sky. When the ball hits the ceiling of the void pocket, the entire sky shakes and shimmers until the magic manages to push its way through and escape into the real world. Justin sighs in relief as he drops his wand, going back to his battle exchanges with the trio.

"How much magic did you put into that?" Alex demands.

Justin doesn't answer her, continuing to stay focused on the battle as the black lighting quickly begins to dance around to his back and down the length of his body.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Where's the next arrow?" Goblin asks as the one Crumbs' carpet just passed through disappears.

"There doesn't seem to be another one," Crumbs observes, "We must be very near."

"Void pockets are invisible from the outside," Jerry thinks out loud, "How will we know where to make the door to get in?"

Before Crumbs can answer, a section of sky in front of them suddenly begins to shimmer brilliantly. A second later, a deep purple ball shoots straight up from out of nowhere, and explodes into a shower of purple light that rains down over the shimmering section of sky. The men on the carpets watch in awed silence as the half-dome of the void pocket is fully revealed to them in a coating of liquid-purple magic. Crumbs grabs his wand, drawing a door-shape into the side of the dome.

"It's going to take a few minutes to open this door," he tells Jerry, then turns to the agents, "And I'll need you to keep it open once we can get inside, so get ready."

"Yes, sir," both agents reply simultaneously, pulling out their own wands.

Just as they all begin pouring their magic into the door, the purple coating quickly begins to shrink back into itself and darken in color. It balls back up into one massive cloud of pitch-black sand before hurtling itself back through the ceiling of the void pocket.

"Oh no," Jerry utters, "Justin…"

------------------------------------------------

"Alex, brace yourself," Justin suddenly says as he continues to fire magic bursts.

"For what?" she asks, though braces herself for whatever it is, anyway.

He doesn't get a chance to answer before a thick black cloud slams into his back between his shoulder blades. If not for Max standing in front of him, he would have fallen forward onto the ground.

"Ohhh, no you don't!" Alex grunts as she battles to keep Justin conscious. She begins to sweat a little, but eventually she is able to push back against the taint. Justin rights himself, blinking a few times with a stunned look on his face.

"Um, Justin?" Max says hurriedly, "You better snap out of it, 'cause I think another-"

Before he can finish, Ronald Jr. fires off a crackling orange blast. Instead of countering it, Justin yells, "Max, get down!" and pushes his little brother to the ground. The blast hits Justin square in the left arm, knocking him down beside Max. He grips his arm, squeezing his eyes shut as he hisses in pain. His body begins to shake again as the Breezer takes effect.

"Justin!" Alex screams, dropping down beside him.

Max scrambles up into a sitting position. "Why didn't you just block it?" he asks, lighting up the red glow so he can at least keep his brother warm.

"Because I couldn't see it," Justin grunts out.

"It was bright orange! How could you not see it?" Max argues, "Or…did I somehow accidentally make Monoorangosis a real disease?"

"No, Max, I didn't see it because I can't see _anything_," Justin replies.

"What?" Alex asks, shocked.

"The taint – it did something to my eyes. I'm…I'm blind."

* * *

**A/N: **Ha ha! Didn't see that one comin', did ya! What else, you may ask, could possibly happen in the remaining time it could take for Crumbs to get the door open? A lot, I say! You'll see in the next part of the story, so keep reading, folks! (And I hope this one was exciting enough for ya!) :)


	9. Part 9

_**Part 9**_

**A/N: **You guys rock! So now, to reward you for your awesomeness, I am writing you another part when I should, in fact, be doing some homework. Shhhhh….don't tell anyone!

Quick disclaimer: I don't own Wizards. I don't own the Wizards characters. I don't have any money, so please Disney don't sue me!

* * *

"Looks like we win, Russos," Ronald Jr. grins.

"It's about time," Dr. Evilini sneers, "Let's hurry and capture them so we can get out of here. We'll transport them to one of the other void pockets and drain their powers there."

They begin to hustle towards the kids, wands out and ready. Max grabs his wand and stands to face them, Alex standing up beside him.

"Alex, you don't have your wand," Max reminds her.

"Justin didn't need his," she points out, thrusting her tied hands out in front of her.

Ronald Jr. laughs. "Oh, look, they still wanna play. How cute."

Angry, Alex shoots out a blast of magic, but Evilini easily knocks it away. Max takes a shot, too, but Ronald Sr. destroys it with his own power.

"Oh, this is just ridiculous now," Evilini huffs. "Let's just get this over with."

She looks at the Longcapes, who nod in unison. At the same time, all three lift their wands, ready to fire.

"We can do this, Max," Alex states, sounding more like she's trying to reassure herself than him.

"Yeah, we can do this," Max answers, more convincingly, "for Justin."

"Right, for Justin," Alex says more confidently, and she and Max stand ready.

The trio simultaneously begin blasting magic from their wands, and Alex and Max are quick to fire back. They manage to destroy the first wave of spells, proud grins spreading on their faces.

"They're better than we thought," Sr. exclaims, and Jr. frowns.

"Then we'd better give them a taste of what their brother got," he hisses.

"Right," Evilini agrees, "Let it loose, boys."

Without any more hesitation, they start firing magic blasts one after another towards the kids.

"There's too many!" Max hollers, trying desperately to keep up with the oncoming rush of power.

"Dad's right outside!" Alex yells back, obliterating one of the spells just barely in time, "We just have to hold on until he breaks in!"

Just as she finishes talking, one of the magic blasts zips low past her knee, grazing her skin. She cries out, falling to the ground, and Max turns to look at her, concerned. Alex looks up to see another wave of magic hurtling towards them.

"Max, look out!" she screams.

He looks back, fear on his face as he realizes he doesn't have time to do anything about the spells. He shuts his eyes, waiting for the impact, but opens them a few seconds later when nothing happens. He looks to see the spells exploding in mid-air right in front of his face as they slam against a nearly-invisible shield. He and Alex turn around to see Justin leaning up on one elbow, wand thrust upwards as he maintains a protective dome around them.

"Justin, stop!" Alex yells, watching the black lighting quickly spreading across his body again. With each time the shield blocks a spell, the lightning grows bigger, and soon the clear dome becomes cloudy with a gritty black sheen.

"Do _you_ know how to make a magic shield?" Justin asks, his voice quaking.

"No," Alex admits, then turns to Max. "Max, keep him warm."

Max nods, dropping down to his knees beside his brother to do his job. Staying clear of the growing lightning, he performs his magic, looking skeptically around him at the ever-darkening dome.

"What about the taint?" he asks.

"Forget about it," Justin gasps out.

"What?" Alex asks.

"He won't be able to stop it. Just, keep me awake when it comes, okay?"

Alex argues back, "No, Justin, you can't take another hit from that stuff. You're already blind – you need to stop."

"Well, unless you can think of a way to take all of three of them out at once, then I don't really have a choice, here," Justin retorts.

"Too bad they aren't the ones who're blind," Max mutters, "Then it'd be easy."

Justin's eyes light up again in that way that signals he has an idea. "Max, remember when I said that you were a genius, but then took it back?"

"Yeah…" Max looks at Alex, who merely shrugs.

"Well, I was wrong – you are a genius. Keep focusing on the heat spell, and Alex, I really need you to keep me awake for just a little longer."

"Fine," Alex agrees, readying herself, "But whatever you're doing better work."

Justin spins his wand around in the air just a little, and instead of the magic blasts exploding off the shield, they begin to absorb directly into it. The lightning on Justin's body grows even bigger now with each blast, and quickly his entire body is covered with it. Alex looks up as the taint finally solidifies across the entire inside surface of the shield, but instead of forming one massive cloud like it had before, it starts to stream towards Justin from all angles all in a constant flow matching that of the magic he pours into the shield. Both Alex and Justin gasp as they fight against it, Justin struggling to keep the shield up and Alex struggling to keep him conscious. His body begins to shake again and Max pushes a little more heat into him. Justin shakes his head.

"I'm not shaking because of the Breezer," he assures his brother. "You're doing fine."

They keep it up for a little while longer before Justin falls back onto his back, still keeping his wand stable.

"Justin, it's too much," Alex says through clenched teeth, "You can't do this anymore!"

"Just a little bit more," he promises, then asks, "When I tell you to, you both need to shut your eyes, okay?"

"What for?" Alex asks.

"Please, Alex, don't argue with me – I know what I'm doing. When I tell you to close your eyes, just do it."

"But that'll break our concentration on our spells," she argues anyway.

"Alex!" he shouts forcefully. "Both of you, promise you'll shut your eyes, _please."_ His plea comes out desperate, laced with pain. "I'm almost ready, but I won't drop this shield until you promise."

"Okay, okay," Alex quickly agrees. "I'll do whatever you want – whatever'll make you stop!"

"Max?" Justin asks.

"Yeah, I promise!" he replies.

"Okay," Justin answers quietly, relief evident in his voice. He pushes a little more power into his wand.

------------------------------------------------

Ronald Sr. squints at the black dome as he continues firing off spells. "What do ya think they're doin' in there?" he asks,

"Does it matter?" Jr. replies. "The shield isn't even destroying our spells anymore. It'll collapse soon, and then there won't be a thing they can do to stop us."

"That is a bit odd," Evilini speculates as she watches the dome. "Our spells obviously aren't going through the shield since the children are still capable of maintaining it, but the magic isn't being destroyed, either."

"So, where's the magic going then?" Sr. asks.

"I don't know," she answers, confused.

-------------------------------------------

"A little more," Justin mumbles to himself, then quietly, "Alex…"

"Yes, Justin?" she asks, voice strained with her own fight to control her magic flow.

He hesitates. "…if I don't-"

"Don't you dare," Alex says angrily. "I swear, Justin Vincenzo Pepe Russo, if you start speaking a bunch of 'last words' nonsense, I will punch you right now."

He smiles a little, "But don't you wanna know where I hide my millions?"

"You don't have millions yet. All you have is a bunch of computer stuff I don't care about, a Captain Jim Bob poster, and a collection of lame dolls."

"They're action figures," he playfully argues. "And I wouldn't give those to you, anyway."

"Well, I don't want 'em," Max plays along. "So you better just wait until you can give us something better."

Justin smiles bigger, then sets his jaw as he forces himself back up on one arm. "Close your eyes," he says softly. Alex and Max look at each other briefly before both suck in a breath, obeying Justin's subtle request.

"Are they closed?" he asks, and waits for both to assure him that they are. "Good luck in the Wizard Competition – it's up to one of you now," he says, and before either one of them can reply, he thrusts his wand a little bit higher, pushing magic into the shield with everything he has left. It suddenly explodes outwards in a brilliant flash of white light, the magic reaching everywhere within the void pocket. The trio yell in surprise, dropping their wands as they reach up to shield their eyes, a little too late. They stumble around blindly, wiping the tears from their eyes as they spew a jumble of wizard curses. Another second later, the white light darkens until the void is shaded in a dark cloud, and the taint implodes back in towards its source – Justin. He is slammed backwards into the ground as it hits him, the force knocking both Alex and Max backwards. When they get over the shock, they scramble forward again towards their brother, who is lying very still on his back. The black lightning has completely vanished and there are no more traces of taint in the air.

"Justin?" Alex asks tentatively, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Alex, is he gonna be all right?" Max asks. "What'd he mean by it's up to us, now?"

"Nothing," Alex tells him, "He was just being dramatic. He'll be fine." Her voice cracks when she says "fine." Max looks down, struggling with his own tears.

"Yeah, quite being dramatic," he whispers to his big brother, his own voice cracking.


	10. Part 10

_**Part 10**_

**A/N: **Howdy all! Sorry this is late, but feel lucky I did this at all! I said I wasn't going to work on these until after this month because I'm supposed to be spending all my free writing time on my Nano novel. But, I decided to take pity on all of you and use a thousand (roughly) words on this instead of putting it towards by 50k for Nano. I swear, though, if I miss the deadline by 1k words, I'm coming after you people! Lol, anyway, enjoy, sorry it's a bit shorter than the last few chapters but keep in mind that it is winding down. The next one will probably be the last, so I hope you liked it and I'll try to get that next one out soon depending on whether I get ahead in Nano or not. Thank you for reading! I 3 all of you!

* * *

Jerry stands back with his arms crossed over his chest, tapping one finger on his elbow impatiently as he waits for Crumbs to open the door. When the spell is almost finished, the entire dome suddenly becomes visible again for a split second, seemingly lit up from the inside.

"What was that?" Goblin asks.

"Beats me," Officer Lamp shrugs.

"Get ready, gentlemen," Crumbs announces, "I'm opening the door now." He traces the outline of the door once again with his wand and the edges glow with a yellow light. Touching the center of the door with his wand's tip, he says, "Open Sesame! Please," and the section of the void wall splits open in response.

"I'll hold it open from this side," Officer Lamp volunteers, sending a flow of blue magic from his wand towards the doorway.

The others nod and, one by one, they step into the void pocket.

* * *

Max is leaning over Justin, using his heat spell. "I don't understand," he says, "He keeps getting cold again as soon as I stop, but he's not using any more magic."

"Then just keep going," Alex tells him, trying in vain to use her wake-up magic. A rush of air suddenly billows out from behind her and Max raises his head to look. "Dad!" he yells before Alex even has a chance to turn around.

"Max! Alex!" Jerry calls, running up to them, but stopping short when he sees Justin lying on the ground. Slowly, he drops to his knees beside Alex. She looks at him with tear-filled eyes.

"He won't wake up," she sniffles.

"What happened?" Jerry asks.

A yell from not too far away interrupts them. "Owe! Watch where you're walking!" Evilini shouts.

"If I could watch where I was going I wouldn't be running into you!" Ronald Jr. yells back. Sr. is a few feet away from them, stumbling around in circles.

"_They_ happened," Alex says, hatred in her voice.

Crumbs turns to Goblin ordering, "Seize them at one!"

Complying with the order, Goblin rushes over and uses his wand to put bindings on the trio. They yell out in surprise, then anger as they attempt to struggle free. Goblin, arms crossed in front of him, walks over to them.

"You guys are gonna be put away for a _long _time," he informs them, casting another quick spell that threads a rope chain between the three of them. He grabs one end of it and begins to drag them back towards the door.

"Wait!" Alex yells out, then runs over to the bound trio. She reaches up, ripping the bee charms off each one of their necks, not bothering to respond when they wince as the chains snap. Rushing over to Crumbs, she asks, "Can you destroy these?"

"Indeed I can," Crumbs says, taking the charms in his hand. With his other hand, he waves his wand over them and the three pieces seal together to form the whole bee. It's wings slowly twitch and flutter, and what was once a simple piece of jewelry shakes off its metallic layer. It transforms into a real bee, complete with black and yellow stripes, but with a blue stinger instead of black. Quickly, Crumbs closes his fist around it, crushing the insect instantly, and only dust remains to float away once he relaxes his fingers.

Jerry looks back to Max. "Max, you can stop now," he says, gently pulling Max's hands away from Justin. Max sits back, watching his brother intently, and only allows himself to relax a little when he sees that Justin isn't starting to shake or turn blue.

Alex moves a little closer, peering down over Jerry's shoulder. "He's…still not waking up," she says, hesitantly, then turns to Crumbs. "You have to help him!"

He shuffles over, squatting down beside Jerry. Closing his eyes, he holds one of his hands out over Justin's chest, allowing it hover there for several seconds. Slowly, he opens his eyes and sits back, looking at the Russo's as they stare at him anxiously.

"An extreme amount of taint is acting on his body," he tells them, shaking his head, "More than I've seen before. I don't know if I can help him."

"What difference does it make?" Alex asks, nearly screaming, "It'll just take longer to get it all out, right? I mean, he's still alive – isn't that enough?"

Crumbs looks at her sympathetically. "I'm afraid not, my dear. You see, in order to extract the taint from a wizard's body, it's a team effort. We pull from the outside, but they must also push from within. If there was still enough of Justin's consciousness left within him to do so, I would have felt a spark. Alex, I felt no such spark."

Jerry looks down at his oldest son, tears now forming in his eyes, as well. Max looks at his father and wipes the tears from his own eyes, swallowing hard. His face sets in determination and unexpectedly, he punches Justin hard in the shoulder.

"Max!" Alex yells, but he ignores her, leaning over to talk into Justin's ear.

"I know you're still in there," he says, quietly but forcefully. "All you have to do is show Professor Crumbs that you can help get rid of that stupid mutant sand." He reaches over and yanks Crumbs' hand back over Justin's chest, ordering him, "Try again."

Crumbs nods, closing his eyes again. His eyebrows furl as he concentrates hard on finding a spark. Max leans back down to Justin's ear.

"Okay, Crumbs is ready," he tells his brother, "Do it now, show him that you can still fight." Crumbs shakes his head, but continues to focus, anyway. "Justin, NOW!" Max screams.

Crumbs waits, but still nothing happens. He is about to pull away when Alex leans over his shoulder, grabbing his wrist.

"Wait," she says, and he freezes. Slowly, she shifts his hand up so that it's hovering over Justin's forehead. "Okay, Justin, one more time," she pleads.

Everyone watches Crumbs' hand intently, but it doesn't move. Cumbs sits back again, and once again looks at each one of their faces. Slowly, a small smile spreads across his face. He doesn't even get a chance to speak before Alex throws her arms around his neck, thanking him.

"No, no," he soothes, patting her back, "Don't thank me, I haven't done anything yet! Now come, we must get him back to the WizTech infirmary immediately while there's still time." He pauses to look up at Goblin. "And you know where to take those three."

Goblin nods before hauling the trio out through the opening. Jerry scoops up Justin in his arms and starts heading towards the door, as well. Alex puts an arm around Max and they follow behind, Crumbs scurrying forward to fall in line beside Jerry. He leans over to whisper in Jerry's ear.

"Your children are all heroes, you know," he smiles. "You should be proud of them."

Jerry smiles back, tears still clouding his eyes. "I know," he says, "I am."

One by one, they step through the door; and once they're all through, it seals shut behind them. The yellow sky of the void pocket vibrates and large wrinkles spread across it until it actually starts to fold in on itself. A few moments later, the entire void world shrinks inwardly and eventually disappears, leaving nothing but a clear blue sky and a couple of magic carpets flying off in the distance.


	11. Part 11

_**Part 11**_

**A/N: **I've returned! And I do believe this is it, you guys, the last chapter! Guess what? Remember those tickets I was talking about a while back to go see a show taping of WOWP? Todd got me some!!! I get to go in March!!!

Okay, enough bragging. On to the end!

* * *

Jerry and Theresa are sitting side by side in what looks to be a hospital waiting room with the exception of the walls being made of the grey stone blocks and decorated with the colorful tapestries that frequent the Wiz Tech campus. Head on Jerry's soldier, Alex is fast asleep while Max snores gently into his mother's lap. Theresa watches him sleep, stroking his air lovingly.

"They're really wiped out," she says quietly. "I don't know how they can sleep at a time like this."

"It was all that magic," Jerry explains, "I'm surprised they could keep up a steady stream of power for as long as they did. Even experienced wizards would be exhausted after that level of magic use."

Alex moans and slowly blinks her eyes open. Groggily, she glances over at the clock hanging on the far wall, and after seeing the time, sits up straight and fully awake. "Oh my gosh, I've been asleep for three hours?!" She turns and glares at her dad. "Why'd you let me sleep that long? What's happening with Justin?"

Max leans up a little, looking around his surroundings in confusion before wiping some drool off his chin. "What's going on?" he asks.

"Everyone, relax," Jerry soothes, "Removing taint is a slow process. We haven't heard anything, but let's just hope that no news is good news. There was no point in keeping you awake while we waited."

Alex, not convinced, continues her panicked questioning. "What if no news _isn't_ good news? I mean, what if they're in there trying everything they can but nothing's working? Maybe they just don't know how to tell us that he's not going to be okay? But he _has_ to be okay, because, because he's my brother and he risked his life to save me!"

"You all risked a great deal to save everybody," Crumbs says as he enters the room. "Thanks to you children, everyone in the wizard world is safe now…and I do mean _everyone."_

Alex jumps to her feet. "Wait, does that mean…?

He nods his head and she leaps towards him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you so much!" she cries, her voice muffled in his robes.

"No, no, I cannot take the credit for this," he chuckles. "I would never have found Justin's spark if not for the two of you. Checking his mind for it was a wonderful idea! It is his strongest asset and I should have thought to check there from the start; and removing the taint was mostly Justin's doing. We began pulling it out slowly, but once we started, he found a way to push it out of his body almost faster than we could contain it! If anything, _we_ should all be thanking _you_ for stopping the evil trio and thereby helping us locate the missing students."

Max stands up and stretches. "You can worry about what you're going to get us as a thank-you present later. Right now I just want to see Justin."

The Russo's all stare at Crumbs with pleading looks on their faces. He strokes his beard a few times in thought before answering. "Well, I suppose it would do him good to see his family-"

"-Yes!" Alex and Max cheer, jumping up and down.

"-but," Crumbs continues, "only for a little while and please do try to keep calm. You must think of recovering from taint in the same way as one would recover from a sever illness. It has certainly taken its toll on his body and he'll need plenty of rest before he's completely well."

"We understand," Jerry nods, "Right guys?"

Alex and Max nod vigorously before glancing at each other, exchanging excited smiles. Crumbs coaxes them to follow him back down the hall towards Justin's room, Jerry wrapping his arm around Theresa as they walk. She reaches up to grip the hand around her shoulder, a relieved smile on her face and a small joyous tear in her eye.

* * *

Crumbs stops just outside of a large wooden door and takes a step back. Alex looks at him, hesitating, so he holds his hand out towards the door in invitation. Slowly, she grabs the handle and pushes the door inwards, peeking inside. Her jaw drops open as she looks around the room, which completely resembles Justin's own bedroom, with the exception of the hospital bed that he is laying on and the softly beeping monitor whirring beside him.

Crumbs leans down over her shoulder. "Much better than that sterile, boring white. Don't you agree?"

"It's fantastic," Alex breathes, stepping into the room and making her way over to Justin's bedside. Max makes a little hushed "wow" behind her, but she ignores him as she visually examines her brother. He is adorned in a black hospital gown, the trim on its collar and sleeves the same gold material that adorns the Wiz Tech robes. Against the black gown and black sheets covering him, the bandage wrapped around his arm where he took the magic blast looks impossibly white.

"Justin?" she whispers, and when he doesn't stir, she repeats his name a little louder. He continues to lay motionless and she looks back at Crumbs. "I thought you said he was better. Why won't he wake up?"

Jerry steps behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "He _is_ better, sweetie. He's just very tired; he'll wake up when he's ready."

"But…what if that takes days?" Alex protests, "I can't wait that long. I have to tell him…I have to tell him that what he did was so, so…stupid!"

Theresa looks sharply at her. "Alex!" she scolds.

"What?" Alex asks angrily. "It was stupid, and careless, and dangerous, and he shouldn't even have had anything to do with any of this! It was _me_ they were after, not him! I don't even know why he came for me – I'm mean and I make fun of him and call him names and rearrange all the stupid little silver guys in his space-city thing so he has to spend hours fixing it – but, he still came for me and now he's, he's like this! It's not fair! _I'm_ the one they were trying to get revenge on, and _I'm_ the bad one, so how come all _I_ ended up with was a purple unicorn bandage on my knee and Justin almost…he almost…"

Alex begins to cry and moves closer to the bed, staring down at her brother, "…and he has to wake up so I can tell him that I'm sorry for all the trouble I cause him, and to thank him for saving me, and to say how much I really look up to him and sometimes wish I could be more like him, and…and…"

She leans over and gently wraps her arms around him, crying into his chest.

"…and how cool I'm going to look with a scar on my arm and an awesome story to go with it?" Justin says quietly. "And it's a robot city from the future, not a space city."

She raises her head up to see him smiling at her with a look of exhaustion, apology, and genuine happiness all mixed together. "You're okay," she laughs, leaning down again to give him a hug. Her smile drops and realization sets it, and she sits straight up, wiping the tears off her face. "Wait, how long have you been awake?"

Max laughed. "Since we walked in. He learned that from me – I pretend to be asleep every time mom walks in to tell me to clean my room." He stops and looks back at Theresa, who is crossing her arms behind him. "Oh man, now I have to find a new way to get out of cleaning my room. Thanks, Justin."

"Hey, you're the one that tattled on yourself," Justin says, then turns back to Alex. "I just wanted to see what you'd say – I figured whatever it was, you'd never say it to me if you knew I was actually listening."

Alex points her finger angrily at him, then drops it, sighing. She looks away from him for a second, then locks eyes with him. "Well, now I know you're listening, and I still need you to know that I meant every word I said…about you being stupid and careless-" Justin opens his mouth to speak, but she stops him. "-I'm not done, yet. Normally you're like super smart, and annoyingly cautious, and avoid anything not even remotely dangerous at all costs; but you go against all that every time I get in trouble, and you don't even care what might happen to you."

"I know," Max agrees, "Do you know how much trouble he's gonna be in for having me put mom in that comic book?"

"Oh, no," Theresa says, "I am not going to be the bad guy, here. Justin, it was very brave what you did. It was very brave what _all_ of you did…but if any of you ever scare me like this again, I'm coming after all of you. Understand?"

They all laugh, and Theresa looks around at them. "No, I mean it," she says, "It won't be funny when it happens."

Max laughs again and starts to argue that she's bluffing, and while they go back and forth, Alex slips in a little "thank you" to Justin while the rest of them aren't paying attention.

He shakes his head, smiling. "Call us even," he says, and she looks at him quizzically, but the argument dies down before he can explain.

"All right," Crumbs pipes up, who has been standing quietly off to the side. "That's enough excitement for now. Justin needs his rest, and I think so do all of you. You should all go home and you can return in the morning."

The kids start to protest, but Jerry holds his arms up to quiet them down. "No, he's right, we could all use a good night's sleep. Justin, we'll be back first thing tomorrow, I promise." He bends over and gives Justin a big hug.

"Okay, Dad," Justin gasps, "let go, I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry, sorry," Jerry remarks, backing away.

Theresa gives him a much gentler hug and pauses to run a hand through his hair. "I love you, baby. You'll be okay tonight?"

"I'm fine, Mom," he assures her.

She nods and backs away, and Max steps up to bump fists with his brother. "Justin, I gotta admit, you were pretty awesome."

"So were you," Justin laughs. "Looks like I'll have to watch my back for you in the Wizard's Competition after all." Max smiles and Justin continues. "I would have been useless without your help, Max. Thanks, man."

Max nods appreciatively and joins his parents at the door so Alex can say her goodbye. She gives him a hug, and while she's close, he whispers in her ear. "You won the Wizard's Competition, but you gave your powers up, anyway."

She sits up, arguing softly, "But that wasn't a big deal, I didn't get hurt or any-"

"It was a big deal for _me_, Alex, and for Max. It was the biggest sacrifice I've ever seen anyone make, and I'm glad I finally got the chance to return the favor."

She smirks. "Huh, I guess that was pretty selfless of me." She sticks out her hand. "All right, then, clean slate for both of us."

They shake hands, laughing, before Alex joins the rest of the family at the door. They wave to Justin one last time and turn away, Crumbs shutting the door behind them.

* * *

The Russos talk to each other excitedly as they walk into their house, Alex, Max, and Justin sporting gold, star-shaped medals around their necks.

"I still can't believe _our_ kids earned the highest award for valor in the wizard world!" Jerry prattles on. "Here, let me have your medals so I can frame them and hang them in the lair."

The kids all protest that they want to keep them in their rooms.

"No, no, no," Jerry argues, "I want every wizard – every _thing_ from the magic world that can – to be able to see these. And I already told you, Max, you can't turn it into a ninja throwing star, so you might as well let me hang onto it."

"You do not know the meaning of fun," Max states, but hands the medal to his dad, anyway.

"Thank you. Alex? Justin?"

"Fine," Alex says, pulling the medal off her neck. Justin hesitates a little, but gives in.

Giddily, Jerry hugs all three medals to himself. "Ow! Those points are sharp…I guess they would make good throwing stars." He shakes his head before looking at Theresa. "Come on, honey, let's go find a cool frame for these and you can help me find the perfect place to display them."

He grabs her hand, almost dragging her out the door. Max turns and heads up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Justin asks.

"Oh, now that we really _are_ famous super heroes, I need to get a _much_ better costume. I mean, Maximan was cool and all, but he didn't show off my skills well enough. I'm thinking more along the line of 'Heat Blast Max' or 'The Sand Stopper' or even 'Spell Juggler' because I had to do both. Yeah, that sounds like a good one."

He dashes up the stairs, leaving Alex and Justin smiling in their Max-understanding. Quietly, Justin turns and strolls out onto the patio, unconsciously rubbing at his arm just below the bandage. Alex joins him as he looks out at the city lights.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah…it's just hard to believe everything started right here."

She follows his gaze towards the people and traffic buzzing around the city below them. "I know, and none of those people down there even know what we did. The trio might not have stopped with the wizard world. We might have just saved the whole world, and no one down there will even know…"

As she rambles, Justin very slowly edges away from her. Just as he steps inside the door, Alex notices he is no longer beside her. She turns and he smiles at her, giving her a little wave as he shuts and locks the door. She rushes forward and tries to open it.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny Justin. Open the door," she laughs. When he shakes his head, she reaches down towards her boot, saying, "Fine, I'll just unlock it myself," but stops smiling when she realizes her wand isn't where it normally is. Looking back up, she scoffs as Justin waves it around in front of her. Twirling it in his fingers, he turns and walks away, leaving Alex slamming her hands against the door.

"Justin! Come on, Justin, it's cold out here! Oh, okay, no more clean slate! I am _so_ getting you back for this! Justin!!!"

* * *

**A/N: **The end!!! I hope you all liked it! Wow, first fic I actually finished – I think I'll go wrap up the other ones, then maybe I'll come back and write another one of these. So much writing to do and so little time! Well, I'll see you on the next go around! :)


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